Thursday 24 December 2009

Weather Chaos (2): Unbelievable!

Its now been two days, yes two days of chaos, in a country that is supposed to expect and be prepared for snow!

Aparrently some local trains were cancelled due to the snow. What fucking snow? It hasn't snowed since Monday, so how has this magical snow crawled from the ground onto the rails, causing such chaos? Here in Pompey, there is no snow, its all melted.

I really do despair at the incompetence of public service managers, that seem to plan less and less for these extremes of weather. When I was a kid, snow was expected and planned for. Now its an excuse to bunk of work, the trains and the buses become unreliable, schools close because a snowflake settles on the playground, roads become unpassable because of lack of gritting.... it just goes on and on.

I really do despair at what this country has become. From a nation ready to fight off foreign invaders, from a country prepared for all that mother nature could throw at it, we have become a feckles, unprepared mess.

2 comments:

  1. A few winters ago after a cold snap caught everyone out. Everyone in the pub was bemoaning the fact the the side roads were not gritted.

    An old tin foil hat wearer ( who also worked for the council)
    Confided in me that the reason the LA did not grit the side roads anymore was not due to cost, although thta played some part.

    It was that the new council gritters sprayed grit out from behind in an almost 180 degree arc.
    When they tried them before on side roads with cars parked both sides, they had loads of claims for chipped paint work, so it was decided not too grit them in future. H&S also came in with he fact that people could be hit with the flying grit( esp. children who were lower to the ground) thus leading to more claims.

    At the time I thought he was bonkers, now, not so much.

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  2. I can believe that reason for not gritting side roads, and to be honest, I don't remember them ever being gritted when I was a kid. Only bus routes (i.e. fairly major roads) were ever gritted. Mind you, I still remember people using cinders from coal fires to provide extra grip on paths, drives and roads.
    At least you knew to expect slippery side roads. Now we have chaos because people expect every road and street to be gritted, or at least drive like they are and then wonder why they're ploughing into hedges and parked cars.

    Like I said in my other post, there's a knack to driving in winter weather. You can drive successfully on ice and ungritted roads, its just knowing how to.

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